Next five years will be a key period in nation's modernization drive, says general secretary
China's top leader Xi Jinping has laid out priorities for the upcoming twice-a-decade National Congress of the Communist Party of China, highlighting the need for the Party to run China's own affairs well in the face of "more complex risks and challenges".
Analysts said the speech delivered by Xi at the opening of a two-day study session for senior Party and government officials that ended on Wednesday had set the tone for the Party's 20th National Congress, the most important event on China's political agenda this year.
Xi, who is general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, called on the over 96 million members of the world's largest ruling Party to stay prepared for worst-case scenarios, strengthen their will and build up their capacity to struggle as China faces more complex risks, challenges, contradictions and problems than ever before.
The epochal 20th National Congress, set to be held later this year, will be a key event held at a critical moment as China embarks on a new journey to build itself into a modern socialist nation, he said at a gathering that included members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, top provincial officials and ministers.
It will map out goals, tasks and policies for the next five years and the longer term for the nation and the Party, he explained.
He highlighted that the next five years will be a key period in China's modernization drive, saying that enabling growth during the period will be of critical importance for China to realize its second centenary goal－turning China into a great modern socialist nation by 2049.
Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization and a counselor with the State Council, said that the upcoming 20th Party Congress is set to attract global attention, as the world is eager to know how the world's second-largest economy will navigate through risks and challenges amid the lingering pandemic and geopolitical tensions and continue to serve as a stabilizing force in the global economic landscape.
"Xi has offered members of the Party a sobering reminder that the CPC cannot afford complacency in going forward and that it must forge ahead to open new horizons through arduous efforts," he said.
According to the Constitution of the CPC, the National Congress will review the reports of the Central Committee－the Party's central leadership, discuss and decide on major issues of the Party and elect a new Central Committee.
The report delivered by Xi at the 19th National Congress of the CPC put forward Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and outlined a host of national policies on the economy, the people's well-being, national defense and diplomacy.
In his speech this week, Xi called for efforts to focus on tackling problems arising from unbalanced and inadequate development, giving priority to strengthening weak areas and amplifying strengths and working on new ideas and measures to address problems.
The whole Party must have a keen realization of the risks faced by the Party in its governance, pursuit of reform and opening-up, development of the market economy, and from the external environment, he said.
He pledged unremitting efforts in exercising strict Party governance, saying that the Party's self-reform is a journey to which there is no end.
Han Qiang, dean of the School of Marxism at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said Xi's speech has served to unify the thinking of the Party's senior officials before unifying the thinking of the whole Party prior to the key Party congress.
"Xi has conveyed a message to Party members that they must build up their own capacity in the face of heightened risks and challenges. And for China, the most important thing is to run its domestic affairs well," he said.